THORNYCROFT MODELS FOR MANY PURPOSES.
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THERE will be four exhibits on the Thonycroft stand at the forthcoming Show at Olympia.
They will comprise a 5 ton van, a saloon bus, a brewer's lorry, and an ingenious combined cesspool emptier and
watering cart which should be of great interest to municipal authorities. There will also be a single-decker bus exhibited on Messrs. Bartle's stand, which concern will be exhibiting, on their own account, another Thornycroft vehicle in the shape
of a 2 ton chassis carrying a very handsome coach body made by themselves.
There are few structural alterations tri record in connection with the various chasis just mentioned, but the cess
pool emptier embodies a number of very interesting mechanical features. In the first place, it is provided with hydraulic tipping gear, and is so constructed that the tank which it carries normally can be replaced quite easily by an ordinary tipping body. Thus, the vehicle can be made to serve two purposes. Its utility is, however, further increased by reason of the fact that, when carrying the tank, it can be used either for cesspool emptying or for road watering. This object is attained by the use of a special pump, which can either be used as a vacuum pump, or as an air compressor. In the former case, a vacuum is created in the tank for cesspool emptying, and, in the latter, air is forced into the tank to expel the water. The. tank would Van' entendu, be thoroughly washed out between the two operations, and for the purpose of road watering a sprinkler is fitted in front a the chassis.
A useful fitment is the winch and jib, carried on the side of the tank, -for the purpose of lifting up the flexible suction hose. There is a large discharge opening at the rear of the tank closed by a door fitted with a counterpoise, and an auxiliary discharge is placed at the Side of this. The change-over valve and the suction-stop valve are carried on the front end of the tank. The vacuum and compressor pump is chain-driven froth a ball bearing mounted countershaft, driven from a sprocket behind the front gearbox coupling.
The Q type 5 ton chassis on which the van body will be exhibited, is an exceptionally fine piece of work. The frame is very deep, provided with substantial cross-members, strongly reinforced by ,gusset, plates, the members being X trussed at the rear. A single cross tube, which spans the frame at the rear, carries the rearespring rear links.
A very powerful foot brake is fitted to this chassis, so arranged that the anchorage stresses are shared by the sub-frame and the gearbox casing. The rear brakes are of large diameter. The rear axle is exceptionally sturdy, and a" novel method if ,attaching the !springs thereto has been adopted, a single ball-headed setscrew of very large diameter gripping the centre porticm of the spring in a specially-shaped bracket, which holds it most securely.
The bus chassis is the X type 5 tonner with a specially long 15 ft. 6-in. wheelbase. 'The gearbox on this chassis is-three-point suspended, and the changespeed mechanism, carried on an extension of the box, is thus free from all possibility of chassis distortion. Caststeel wheels are fitted to this, as to all Thornycroft chassis this year. The 2 ton BT type chassis, on which the brewer's lorry is mounted, has a central change speed and brake lever, which method of construetion enables the
engine, clutch and gearbox to be suspended on three points as a unit. Recent tests have -demonstrated remarkably the efficiehey of this arrangement. The body will be fitted with stanchions and chains and be provided with a special-double floor.
The. cesspool. emptier will be mounted on the J type chassis, which is already so well known, Very similar to the X type, as regards the engine, it is provided with other chassis fitments for this special purpose, the hydraulic Upping pump, for instance, being friction-driven off the flywheel.